Today I did an impromptu trip to Toowoomba and back on the bus. I wasn't going to take a bag, but then I thought I would, as that way I wouldn't have to carry an umbrella around, in case I needed it. Well, let me tell you - I definitely needed it LOL. First the sun was blaring and then a wild storm came over, so I needed it for both rain and shine. The storm was that wild that I was huddled under a bus shelter (which had quite a decent sized awning) and it was coming in sideways with the wind. I started to get a bit scared at one point with the wind, and I could hear a little kid screaming nearby. I mean, hell, I was scared so I can't only imagine how the kid felt.
I only got to spend a few hours there, as the bus getting there was delayed because some students booked a "Last minute ticket" so the bus had to turn around and go get them from the spot. We got an apology but that was it, and the traffic getting out of Brisbane was horrid because there was a crash at Jindalee, so we were at a crawl. After those two instances, we got to Toowoomba 45 minutes late. And the bus was packed. And some guy was sat in my window seat. I didn't make a big deal of it, but he had to hold his bag in his lap as I needed to sit in the aisle seat now. So the trip wasn't off to the greatest start lol.
I also underestimated how huge the walk is from the bus station in Toowoomba to the cemetary on the edge of town. It's an hour and 13 minutes walk lol, and Toowoomba doesn't have e-scooters like Brisbane does. Hell, it only just got Uber recently, it's that backwards. As I was walking with am umbrella to shield me from the sun (initially), I was even waiting for some wanker to yell something out at me. Only one guy did, but I think that was more because he was on a bike and I was blocking his path. Umm, ring your bell dickhead?
I could see the clouds getting darker in the distance, so that was a bit of a concern, but I figured it was far too early for a storm, surely. It was like 1:30pm by the time I got to the cemetary, and I found my dad's plaque after a little bit of searching. Hopefully it'll be easier to find the more I go there, but I'm glad I found it. There were some old flowers there, so it looked like my sister hadn't been in about a week or so (she lives quite near the Garden Of Rememberance, so it's easy for her to walk over when she's feeling good.) I sat down in front of dad's grave and touched the plaque and shifted a few leaves. It was pretty good though. I know my mum brings her scissors to trim any grass that grows too long lol. I didn't feel sad at all. It was nice just sitting there. The clouds had come over so it was nice and cool.
I'm glad I left when I did though. There was an almight CRACK of thunder right over my head as I was walking back toward the front entrance, enough to make me think lightning was gonna strike me. Thankfully there was just the one though. I'd probably made it about 20 minutes walk back along the road when it started to rain, softly, then more steady, to heavier, to my umbrella hardly being able to stand the force of the rain (and it's the really good one I ordered from NYC!) to me huddled under the bus shelter pleading for the storm to pass LOL. I was literally a drowned rat. I wanted to film the rain, but I knew my phone in my pocket was already wet and didn't want to risk it getting even more wet. I could see the waves of rain flying across the main road in front of me. I had to be back at the bus stop before the last bus left at 4:30pm and I wanted to stop in at Super Rooster beforehand, so this storm was really dampening my plans! In the end, I decided I needed to make a break for it. I saw Red Rooster nearby, and thought that would have to do. I could take shelter there. But as soon as I got to the front door, I could see blue sky to my left. The rain was noticably softer. I turned around and kept walking, pretty much drenched shorts by the top of my shirt was saved by the trusty umbrella. Any one of the previous umbrellas I owned would have been destroyed in that weather, but this one held the test. Granted, I did feel like I was going to become Mary Poppins and fly off into a sky a few times there.
Here is drowned-rat me lol. You can see the dry part of my shirt.
So I got to see my dad's grave again before it started pissing down, AND I got to have my Super Rooster. It's an institution in Toowoomba - so much so that there's FOUR of them now, and it isn't in any other cities in Australia, so I have to have it pretty much every time I'm there.
I made the bus back and it stopped off in Gatton (again) to pick up another student, who's ticket said he'd booked for tomorrow instead of today. What is with the dumb students at Gatton these days? So there was another slight delay getting back home, but not as long as it was getting there, and it was nice of the bus driver to stop at a stop he normally doesn't, and let the guy on the bus.
I was glad to get home and have a warm shower. I hate getting caught in the rain, as I feel it can make me sick when I'm stuck in those clothes. I feel okay so far. It's only 8:30pm but I'm pretty tired after all that walking, and trying to hide from the elements.
Here were some ducks at the rememberance garden. I should have known to get out of there when I saw ducks. Still, it was nice to see three ducks when three of my relatives are buried there.
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